Regional Sites to be Announced @ 2pm

[alexrgct]

Yay- UConn-Louisville IV in Louisville. Awesome.

Or UConn-Stanford II in Palo Alto. Less of a big deal perhaps, especially after what happened last time we played Maples, but still.

Or UConn-ND in South Bend. We'll have to know how good ND is or isn't before we receive this news.

Or UConn-Nebraska in Lincoln. Yes, please.

All told, this pretty much sucks.

 

[AllHusky529]

I hate to seem unsympathetic to our situation, but all summer we have debated margin of victory for our girls. We potentially have four All-Americans in our starting line-up...my belief is, if we really believe in our girls the way we say we do, we can beat ANYBODY ANYWHERE ANYTIME! Maybe this isn't a good thing for the sport, but it's what we've got. So, let the ladies lace 'em up and let's go win this thing! Go Huskies!

 

[UConnCat]

There hasn't been an S Curve in WCBB for years. Doesn't matter if UConn is overall 1 seed. They care about location more than an S Curve or "fairness".

They also won't pass up the opportunity to have a UConn-ND matchup with none in the regular season.

I understand there hasn't been an S curve in years, but the committee hasn't had teams host regionals in years either. What exactly is the point of location when you're already talking about a #1 seed traveling at least 800 miles? We're to believe that Tenn will go to Lincoln because it's only 900 miles away while Durham and Hartford are 1200 miles away?

The Committee chose to allow teams to host because it wants to see fans in the seats. I believe the Selection committee (and ESPN) would prefer to see ND and UConn play in the FF. Nebraska was chosen because it draws fans to its arena not because it draws eyeballs to TV sets.

Who knows? Maybe we'll see a Final Four of Stanford, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Louisville. Talk about just deserts.

 

[msf22b]

Never before has Lincoln NE been such a desirable place to be at the end of March.

Exactly 24 hours by car
I've made the drive many times.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Its not that far fetched to see a Final Four that contains ND, Louisville and Stanford. They're reasonably strong teams and have great home court advantages. Even with as strong as UConn is going to be this year, would not like to have to go through ND to get to the Final Four on their home court. Less concerned about the other teams hosting Regionals.

I understand there hasn't been an S curve in years, but the committee hasn't had teams host regionals in years either. What exactly is the point of location when you're already talking about a #1 seed traveling at least 800 miles? We're to believe that Tenn will go to Lincoln because it's only 900 miles away while Durham and Hartford are 1200 miles away?

The Committee chose to allow teams to host because it wants to see fans in the seats. I believe the Selection committee (and ESPN) would prefer to see ND and UConn play in the FF. Nebraska was chosen because it draws fans to its arena not because it draws eyeballs to TV sets.

Who knows? Maybe we'll see a Final Four of Stanford, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Louisville. Talk about just deserts.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Never before has Lincoln NE been such a desirable place to be at the end of March.

Clearly the best line of the day and perhaps the month.

Well done, my friend!

 

[ochoopsfan]

Nebraska has a new arena that opens on Nov 8th for both MBB and WBB.
Good support for basketball in Lincoln.
UConn should hope to go there or Stanford, neither of those possible host teams have a prayer in beating a healthy UConn.

 

[Phil]

Does that make South Bend, IN the East Regional?

No, they dropped the directional labels years ago.

 

[pap49cba]

I really hope Geno doesn't regret the position he took on this issue. (Which I TOTALLY agree with, btw.) Some strange (stuff) could go down this year on the way to the Final Four.

 

[triaddukefan]

Doug Feinberg ‏@DougFeinberg 1m
Stanford, Louisville, Nebraska and Notre Dame chosen to host women's basketball regionals
s.

 

[Phil]

I'm trying to figure out who is most unhappy about the choices. Duke is on my list. So is Maryland. What do you think is likely if you do as well as you expect (presumably, #1 seed)?

 

[Phil]

Who has more right to be unhappy.

A number 1 seed, say TN, or Duke, who has to play on the home court of Stanford or Louisville or ND,

or a #2 seed, who thinks they have a shot at knocking off a #1 seed, but not if theyat #1 seed is palying at home?

 

[triaddukefan]

I'm trying to figure out who is most unhappy about the choices. Duke is on my list. So is Maryland. What do you think is likely if you do as well as you expect (presumably, #1 seed)?

Duke, Maryland, TN, and Kentucky in my opinion have the most to be upset about. I dont think it matters where UCONN plays.

My dream scenario would be Duke, UCONN, ND, and Louisville all being #1 seeds...... and Duke would go to Palo Alto for the regional.

My worst fear is that Duke is a #1 seed and would have to play Louisville in a regional final. Do I think that Duke is a better team than Louisville? . Yes. Do I think Duke has better players, a deeper bench? Yes. But Duke has 5 talented seniors who have lost in the Regional Finals for three straight years. The pressure to at least get to a Final Four will be overwhelming. I'd feel alot more comfortable with the prospect of advancing out of Palo Alto or Lincoln, than I would the prospect of playing Louisville in front 15,000-22,000 fans at the KFC Center.

Based on what I think will happen.... I see UCONN, Duke, ND, and Stanford as the #1 seeds..... with Tennessee, Maryland, and maybe Kentucky and Louisville as the #2 seeds. If that plays out.... then I would predict Duke will be playing in Louisville with UCONN in Lincoln.

 

[pap49cba]

I will predict right now that ND and Stanford will be in the FF. Louisville is a strong probable and Neb a maybe. Maybe we should just skip the regular season and go straight to the tournament.

 

[Tonyc]

A couple of things I have to say about the sites. Theyre stupid. It was a dumb decision. Why? Because the 2 biggest draws are UConn and Tenn. Will this create more fans? We will wait and see. WCBB needs money to support their tournament. This is going to put them in a deep financial hole. Not a good business decision. IMO UConn will steam roll through the NCAAs. My only concern is their conference schedule is not very competitive which may not have them prepared at the level Geno would like them to be at . With that said they are just too good to lose unless their are major injuries.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

While power teams have not hosted in some years, who can forget Tennessee's oft repeated paths to the FF encompassed all in TBA? Not that I had a problem with it given the state of the game at that time. It was only a very brief time where teams were actually prohibited from playing at a home site regional - maybe 2 years???

I don't remember all this outrage when it was suggested and accepted that teams would be allowed to play at home this year, obviously I didn't catch Geno's complaint. But, I think we understand that this was a temporary measure - and does anyone doubt that attendance will be better than a neutral court somewhere?? If I recall correctly, they are looking at other arrangements going forward.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

If Notre Dame wins the ACC, they will be a #1 seed and won't be in the
same regional as UConn. If Notre Dame isn't good enough to win the
ACC, then they won't be good enough to beat UConn - even in South Bend.

 

[triaddukefan]

If Notre Dame wins the ACC, they will be a #1 seed and won't be in the
same regional as UConn. If Notre Dame isn't good enough to win the
ACC, then they won't be good enough to beat UConn - even in South Bend.

They could very well not win the ACC and still be a #1 seed this year...

 

[UConnCat]

I don't remember all this outrage when it was suggested and accepted that teams would be allowed to play at home this year, obviously I didn't catch Geno's complaint. But, I think we understand that this was a temporary measure - and does anyone doubt that attendance will be better than a neutral court somewhere?? If I recall correctly, they are looking at other arrangements going forward.

Not sure I understand your points. Are you suggesting the fans on this board are only outraged because UConn didn't bid and won't be hosting regional? If not, what difference does it make that fans chose to express their unhappiness with this plan when it's announced. Honestly, I don't know that fans realized or focused on what the NCAA intended to do w/r/t regional sites in the 2014 tournament until it became a reality today.

The NCAA should not sacrifice competitive fairness just for the optics of more fans in arenas, even if it's a stop-gap plan. That won't matter much to teams who believe they have a shot at the FF and are forced to play a S16 or E8 game on another team's home floor.

 

[UCONNfan1]

UCONN should never have "objected". You deal with the rules as they are. If UCONN didn't want to end up in Palo Alto or wherever in the 3rd and 4th rounds, they should have put their bid in. Honestly I don't see where it matters one way or the other. If you have 1 seeds of UCONN, Duke, ND and say Stanford, it's pretty easy to see where they'd all be sent... and what bracket they'd be in.

It makes no sense to me that any UCONN fans would be outraged, or even upset at this. UCONN didn't put a bid in. So the committee chose the best sites they could based on who made bids.

 

[ASweet3781]

UCONN should never have "objected". You deal with the rules as they are. If UCONN didn't want to end up in Palo Alto or wherever in the 3rd and 4th rounds, they should have put their bid in. Honestly I don't see where it matters one way or the other. If you have 1 seeds of UCONN, Duke, ND and say Stanford, it's pretty easy to see where they'd all be sent... and what bracket they'd be in.

It makes no sense to me that any UCONN fans would be outraged, or even upset at this. UCONN didn't put a bid in. So the committee chose the best sites they could based on who made bids.

If ND is not a 1 seed, and UConn is playing in front of 11,000 screaming ND fans in the toughest game of the tournament with refs sending McBride and Loyd to the line 20 times each, will you still think it makes no sense? You can still be ticked off at this NCAA move and be disappointed that UConn didn't bid.

We think we have the best team this year right? Well something as unusual and funky as playing an Elite 8 game in a place like South Bend against ND is the sorta perfect storm of bad luck thing that can ruin a potentially great season unexpectedly. You know weird stuff like Dolson being karate chopped in the neck and yet being called for a foul which leads to Geno getting T'ed up. That sorta stuff. Hopefully it doesn't happen and we are shucking corn in Nebraska.

 

[Phil]

UCONN should never have "objected". You deal with the rules as they are. If UCONN didn't want to end up in Palo Alto or wherever in the 3rd and 4th rounds, they should have put their bid in. Honestly I don't see where it matters one way or the other. If you have 1 seeds of UCONN, Duke, ND and say Stanford, it's pretty easy to see where they'd all be sent... and what bracket they'd be in.

It makes no sense to me that any UCONN fans would be outraged, or even upset at this. UCONN didn't put a bid in. So the committee chose the best sites they could based on who made bids.

You are making two separate points.

I think there are time that when objects to a decision, one should then refuse to take advantage of the policy, while there are other situations where your objection to a decision should be followed up with a refusal to accept the benefits of the decision. The second decision does not also have to follow form the position about the first.

In this specific case, I happen to think the NCAA decision to abandon predetermined sites and let the top seeds host the first two rounds was sound (as an aside, I think I have a better approach, but the committee doesn't yet agree with me). However, I disagree with the NCAA that the Regionals should be hosted by teams in the tournament.

I don't see this as a principled vote. I understand and respect those who chose to vote in favor of this change. But I'm on the side of those opposed, and therefore I commend UConn for standing in opposition to the policy.

Once the policy is enacted, one can choose to accept the decision, and make the best option for your individual school, which might mean UConn should bid, or you can decide that your view on opposition is sufficiently strong that you choose not to bid for a regional, even at a potential cost to your own school.

This is a tougher call, but I respect UConn for having the courage of its convictions to refuse to enter a bid. But again, this isn't really a case of principles, it is a case of different views on how best to improve the sport. If some school objected to the decision, and followed it up with a bid, I wouldn't accuse them of hypocrisy. It might well be the appropriate action.

 

[Phil]

Thought experiment. If UConn had bid, and won, by definition, someone else would have lost their bid.

Who?

Stanford seems least likely to be the one, out, Nebraska seems the most likely. Is it that simple, or are there other views?

 

[UConnCat]

UCONN should never have "objected". You deal with the rules as they are. If UCONN didn't want to end up in Palo Alto or wherever in the 3rd and 4th rounds, they should have put their bid in. Honestly I don't see where it matters one way or the other. If you have 1 seeds of UCONN, Duke, ND and say Stanford, it's pretty easy to see where they'd all be sent... and what bracket they'd be in.

It makes no sense to me that any UCONN fans would be outraged, or even upset at this. UCONN didn't put a bid in. So the committee chose the best sites they could based on who made bids.

So, who exactly can object to this plan in your opinion? If fans of teams who chose not to submit a bid (whether on principle or for some other reason) aren't permitted, then it must only be the fans of teams that submitted a plan but then weren't selected. A little hypocritical, no? Your position makes little sense to me. The Committee's plan is terrible and no fans are precluded from saying so, least of all fans of teams that chose to stick by their objections.

 

[UCONNfan1]

Well then I guess I should have said it seems to me some folks on this board have their angst misplaced. You all should be annoyed at UCONN for not putting in the bid in the first place. To complain about the sites that were chosen when UCONN was never in the mix in the first place is, as Phil pointed out, 2 separate things. Sure UCONN stood by its' collective moral ground, but this is the result.

I agree that it certainly would be unfortunate for UCONN, as a 1 seed, to potentially face ND as a 2 seed in South Bend. And it would be unfair, but it's happened many times in the past - in fact, PSU was the 1 seed and UCONN the 2 seed when the teams faced off several years back in the NCAA's on UCONN's home court.

If UCONN had thrown their hat into the ring in the first place, then one of the regionals would have been in Hartford, or Bridgeport, or wherever is close to Connecticut. They didn't, and the committee chose from the options they had.

So my point is fans' anger or frustration seems misplaced. Obviously I'm in the minority. No biggie. I'm more familiar with the men's side anyway where they routinely send UCONN to the west coast bracket, or Duke to the mid west, etc etc. But then again you don't have teams generally playing on the home court of lower seeded opponents.

 

[UcMiami]

As soon as this plan was announced the obvious teams to bid on regional sites were team that had a chance of getting to the final four so I always knew that the regional sites were going to be problematic for the 6+ other teams with legitimate aspirations to FF status. I do find the geography sort of interesting as we have 3 central locations and one west coast with no really eastern or southern site. Beyond that ... tough luck this year for the other teams not hosting. I think Uconn is good enough to win on any court and maybe they have to prove that.
It is not a lot worse than the times higher seeds had to play Uconn in Bridgeport and or Hartford - seem to remember Duke and PSU maybe complaining about that in years past when we were a 2 seed.

I do think the idea floated about fixed regional sites is a good one, but folks will complain about those locations when they are selected as well. Especially if they are close to one of the perennial powerhouse teams.

And just an aside - any of the top ten teams in the country over the last ten years are going to have a home winning % of 80 or better - between weak OOCs and generally winning their conferences they just don't lose many home games so there is no surprise there. More meaningful would be home record against teams ranked in the top 5 nationally and that would be much closer to 50% for most.

 

[Fightin Choke]

I can understand the disappointment, UConn fans, but wasn't Bridgeport a regional site last year? And wasn't Storrs the subregional? UConn made the FF last season never having traveled more than 80 miles from campus. Would Maryland or Kentucky fans have considered Bridgeport even close to neutral? Notre Dame played their first 2 tournament games in Iowa City and their next 2 in Norfolk, Virginia, and they were a higher tournament seed than UConn last season. So the former method was also flawed, and it left the arenas empty. Clearly this new method is also flawed, but at least butts will be in the seats to witness the regionals.

And in the worse case scenario, you know Geno will use this as motivation.

 

[Jackalope]

Sheesh, I am surprised that Tennessee's bid wasn't accepted. You know they must have put one in. It would be an easy 21,678 sellout if dollars are all they are interested in. Maples only seats about 7,200. Nebraska's arena also only seats 13,600.

 

[UConnCat]

I can understand the disappointment, UConn fans, but wasn't Bridgeport a regional site last year? And wasn't Storrs the subregional? UConn made the FF last season never having traveled more than 80 miles from campus. Would Maryland or Kentucky fans have considered Bridgeport even close to neutral? Notre Dame played their first 2 tournament games in Iowa City and their next 2 in Norfolk, Virginia, and they were a higher tournament seed than UConn last season. So the former method was also flawed, and it left the arenas empty. Clearly this new method is also flawed, but at least butts will be in the seats to witness the regionals.

And in the worse case scenario, you know Geno will use this as motivation.

There's a big difference between the first 2 rounds of the tournament when the games are not competitive for many teams and the regional finals when a trip to the FF is on the line. There's also a big difference between a neutral site that's within driving distance for certain teams and their fans and an on-campus facility that is a team's home court. Bridgeport is not the same as Gampel just as Greensboro is not the same as Cameron or Carmichael just like Banker's Life in Indianapolis is not the same as the Joyce Center.

Most say this is a one-year plan. If that's the case, then why not just go with one more year of the old plan and avoid the inevitable negativity that's going to surround the tournament come March? Defending this plan with the old butts in the seats argument is not the way to grow the game.

 

[UConnCat]

Sheesh, I am surprised that Tennessee's bid wasn't accepted. You know they must have put one in. It would be an easy 21,678 sellout if dollars are all they are interested in. Maples only seats about 7,200. Nebraska's arena also only seats 13,600.

Do we know whether Knoxville submitted a bid to host a regional? It will host the first 2 rounds. Maybe there's a limit to how far the committee is willing to go and the thought of allowing Tenn to host the S16, E8 and then play in a Final Four in Nashville was too much.

I'd like to know which schools bid to host a regional. I read somewhere that 2o schools submitted bids. No east coast schools? The ACC was awarded 1/2 of the regionals. Jumped ahead one year on this.